WILL Policies

Illinois Public Media

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Live and Local with Kevin Kelly

Live and Local features local performances by musicians both local and national, with occasional coverage of theater and dance. The program features conversations with the artists and a healthy sampling of their music, frequently played live in our studio. Live and Local ended production in 2014.

Robert Paterson’s composition for flute, harp and percussion called The Book of Goddesses was inspired by the illustrated book of the same name by Kris Waldherr. Paterson chose nine goddesses from around the world for musical illustration in his forty-minute work, which will be played in Champaign on Sunday by the local Archaea Tree Ensemble. The trio will play excerpts for us live on the Friday edition of “Live and Local.”

The Greater Decatur Youth Band got its start in 1994 as an opportunity for students in grades 5 through 9 to improve their music skills during the summer. It also affords Millikin University music education students the chance to work as assistant directors. Expanded several years ago to encompass 4th through 10th grades, the band will begin rehearsals next week. I’ll talk with director Gary Shaw on the Thursday edition of “Live and Local.”

The Sounds of the Prairie Community Band—formerly known as the carTunes Community Summer Band—offers an opportunity for amateur musicians young and old to practice and perform in a relaxed setting. This year the band will give concerts in St. Joseph, Homer and Mahomet, and they’re looking for new members. I’ll talk with chair Ross Bundy and new director Christi Lohrberg on the Wednesday edition of “Live and Local.”

The Station Theatre in Urbana has announced its summer season, with three shows they characterize as “a classic musical revue, a provocative Pulitzer-Prize finalist and a warm-hearted drama.” First up is the “classic musical revue,” called Putting It Together—a show in which two couples reflect on the complexities of modern relationships through the songs of Stephen Sondheim. We’ll have a live preview on the Tuesday edition of “Live and Local.”

Jalan [juh-LAHN] Crossland considers that he’s one of the few “alt country” artists who still claim the “country” as home. Known as the “trailer park troubadour” in his home state of Wyoming, he writes songs that are vivid, first-hand accounts of life in the small towns and back country of 21st-century America. Jalan Crossland will play in Urbana Monday and Tuesday night, and he’ll play for us live on the Monday edition of “Live and Local.”

Summer theater has been a long-standing tradition at the University of Illinois. This year the program has invited the upstart Definition Theatre Company from Chicago to present The Brothers Size, opening this week, as well as a New Short Play Festival. I’ll talk with company members and director Kathleen Conlin on the Friday edition of “Live and Local.” We’ll also hear about the many offerings at this year’s Peoria Bach Festival.

Kickapoo State Park in Oakwood is known for its woods, meadows, bluffs, waterways and wildlife. You could add to that its music in spring, summer and fall. The music series at Kickapoo Landing features a growing number of bands, among them one called Strings Attached. They’ll play for us live on the Thursday edition of “Live and Local.” We’ll also hear about Saturday’s concert by Peoria’s Heartland Festival Orchestra.

Musician, author and philanthropist Peter Buffett happens also to be the son of financier Warren Buffett. He maintains that the true inheritance from his parents was a philosophical one: to forge your own path in life. “Life Is What You Make It: A Concert and Conversation with Peter Buffett” will be presented at a non-profit management symposium in Chicago next Tuesday, and I’ll talk with Peter Buffett on the Wednesday edition of “Live and Local.”

The story goes that guitar and banjo picker Billy Strings was practically born into bluegrass, because his mother’s water broke during a party packed with musicians. Now twenty-one, he’s currently touring with Don Julin, whose mandolin tunes can be heard on multiple television networks and who wrote the book Mandolin for Dummies. Billy and Don will play in Urbana Friday night, and they’ll play for us live on the Friday edition of “Live and Local.”

Billy Strings & Don Julin

The Quartetto Italiano was among the most revered of classical string quartets, with a rich recorded legacy over its fifty-plus-year history. But that quartet dissolved in 1980. Twenty years later, four musicians from Genoa came together to form the Quartetto di Cremona, named after the prominent violin-making town. They have released Volume 2 of their traversal of Beethoven’s quartets, and I’ll talk with their violist on the Wednesday edition of “Live and Local.”